Description
This recipe makes two loaves of soft, moist, whole wheat bread with freshly milled flour. Honey, buttermilk, and mashed potato add additional nutrients and flavor, making this THE best recipe for fresh milled bread on the web.
Equipment needed:
- Food Thermometer
- Stand mixer
- Two standard size bread pans
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Ingredients
- 1 & 1/3 cups water
- 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes
- 1/4 cup honey
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 940 grams (about 7 & 1/2 cups) of freshly ground hard red wheat berries
- 1 tablespoon Rapid-rise instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon salt
Instructions
- Spray the insides of your bread pans with non-stick spray and set aside. Set your oven to the ‘warm’ setting if available to create a warm place for the dough to rise.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the water, mashed potato, honey, butter, and buttermilk, and set aside. Test the temperature of the liquid mixture with a food thermometer. If it is cooler than 120 degrees, reheat it to between 120 to 130 degrees F in the microwave for optimal instant yeast temperatures.
- In the stand mixer bowl, place 4 cups of whole wheat flour, then the yeast and salt. Briefly whisk to combine the dry ingredients.
- With the paddle attachment running on low speed, pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture. Mix ingredients until just combined. Remove the paddle and insert the dough hook.
- Slowly add the remaining flour in 1/2 cup increments as the dough is kneaded at medium-low speed. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl after all the flour is added. Knead the dough for a total of about 6-8 minutes, scraping down the hook about halfway through. It will be soft and slightly sticky. If it is still sticking to the sides of the bowl, knead in additional flour until it comes clean.
- Remove the dough hook and the bowl from the stand mixer. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter to rest for 10 minutes. At this stage, I turn off the ‘warm’ setting on my oven so it can cool a bit. (The ‘warm’ oven setting on most ovens will be too hot for bread.)
- On a clean dry surface, empty the dough and divide it into two equal parts. Set one half aside and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Roll the other piece of dough out into a rectangle that is the width of your bread pan and about as long as your rolling pin. Roll the dough up from the short end to the short end. Pinch the seam and ends together. Place the dough, seam side down, into a prepared bread pan. Repeat with the other piece of dough.
- Cover both bread pans very loosely with plastic wrap and place the dough in your warmed oven. Allow the dough to rise until the center of the dough is equal in height to the bread pan rim, about 30-45 minutes.
- Remove the bread pans from the oven, and set the heat to 400 degrees F. When the oven is ready, remove the plastic wrap from the bread and place it in the oven on the center rack. Bake for 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350 degrees F. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes in the pans, then remove bread loaves from pans and place on a wire cooling rack. Optional: brush melted, salted butter over the top. Allow the loaves to cool for an hour before slicing, and three hours before freezing.
Notes
Regular milk or clabbered milk can be substituted for buttermilk.
Prepared instant mashed potatoes can be substituted for regular mashed potatoes. Avoid using flavored varieties like garlic herb. The instant potatoes should be plain or butter flavor only.
- Prep Time: 1 hr.
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice (1/2 inch width)
- Calories: 142
- Sugar: 3
- Sodium: 253
- Fat: 2.7
- Saturated Fat: 1.5
- Carbohydrates: 25.6
- Fiber: 0.8
- Protein: 3.6
- Cholesterol: 6